Understanding
by BabyJJ
Summary: this is different than most stories you'll ever read about Legolas... please r+r!
1. Prologe

Prologue  
  
The Mirror of Galadriel---------------------------------------------------- -----------------------   
  
Gilromen of the Wandering People of Middle Earth ran with all her might. The men chasing her far behind would not tire out so easily as she thought.  
  
They chased her over logs and through the forest. She dodged their arrows behind trees and the occasional ruins. They wore the mark of Gondor on their cloaks and the famous horn at their side.  
  
Gilromen was an Elven Lady. For years she dwelt with Cirdan the Shipwright until Elrond, Galadriel, and Mithrandir had sailed over the sea. She then dwelt in Lothlorien with Celeborn. After King Ellesar died, Gilromen lived in the company of King Thranduil, her greatest ally.  
  
For a long time now she had been hunted down because of this. You see, the cruel and evil king Mithandul, of direct decent of King Ellesar was afraid that the elves would revolt and try and take him from the throne. He knew that Gilromen had intended to do so for a while now.  
  
But Gilromen had little help. For many of the Elves had sailed across the sea and those who remained were being hunted. The dwarves had hidden themselves in Moria and Men sided with their cruel king, for any who caught an elf was paid in great amounts. Only the elves in Eryn Lasgalan aided her.  
  
Gilromen could see Caras Galadron, the very land where the greatest elf- queen had lived, The Lady Galadriel. Men would not dare to go there, for they thought it haunted and a place of evil; it was a Holy land for Elves.  
  
Gilromen jumped over a fallen log and quickened her pace as she heard the chase behind her slow down. They knew her plan. Arrows whizzed and missed as she ducked behind a tree.  
  
"Just a bit farther."  
  
Safety. But Gilromen would not stop there. She continued to run until she was lost. Anger ran thru her. The Kings troops had caught her company weak and unprepared after an orc attack.  
  
The elf found herself in a clearing where a small stream ran, in the center a pedestal with a silver dish in the center.  
  
"The mirror of Galadriel" she said in awe.  
  
She had seen it once before, but her memory of Lothlorien was limited. She looked around for a pitcher and found it, buried under the leaves and dirt that had covered it over centuries. She filled it to the rim with water and poured it on the dish.  
  
Images were blurred together until one became clear. The most handsome Elf she had ever seen. His pale golden hair flew in the wind and his bright blue eyes held her gaze even though she knew he wasn't there. Beside him stood a stout dwarf with white hair and a tangled beard. They both wore clothing of old styles. The imaged blurred to show King Mithandul smiling maliciously at an unseen figure.  
  
She then saw a maiden with Golden hair and eyes that were somewhere between blue and gray. She wore a dress that shone with white light and a circlet upon her head. She seemed to be walking with Aragorn and Arwen. There were others too, though who they were was unknown. So this image was from the past. Gilromen thought. The images swirled and the water rippled. When the water became as still as glass, She could clearly see the reflection of her dirty face, neglected hair and worn out clothing. 


	2. A Journey Home

Ch 1 A Journey Home--------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------   
"I can't believe you are going to go through with this." Legolas shook his head as he and Gimli walked towards the river.  
  
"Master elf! I do believe that you have grown quite attached to these lands!" Gimli teased.  
  
"And so it is!" Legolas said, putting his hands on his hips. "I have no desire to go back to Middle Earth."  
  
"And why is that?" Gimli asked.  
  
Legolas sighed. "Because times change and something tells me in my heart that the lands we shall return to shall not be the same ones from which we departed those long years ago. I am fearful of what might have happened."  
  
Gimli only laughed." Then you would not accompany a dieing dwarf to his home again?" He asked.  
  
"I would not let you go alone into an unknown land." The elf answered simply.  
  
"You speak as if we had never been to Middle Earth! Calm yourself, Legolas, and think of the Sea! To be on its waves yet again! Not much change could have come to Middle Earth in a couple hundred years."  
  
But Legolas had lived through many centuries and several millennia. And he knew that things could change in less than a decade. In less than a few years even. And he knew that Middle Earth would have drastically changed.  
  
He dismissed his friend's folly misjudgment and boarded the small ship he and Gimli, along with a few others, would take back to Middle Earth from Eressea, The Lonely Isle. They would leave Paradise for Middle Earth. But Gimli was old and wished to see Middle Earth again and Legolas had not the heart to stop him. 


	3. On the Horizon

Ch 2 On the Horizon--------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------   
  
Gilromen walked by the river Anduin. Few men came near its banks in these parts and the rebel camp was not far away. She would be safe.  
  
Gilromen stared at the horizon as she played a peaceful tune on her pipe, her mind on what the Mirror had revealed many months ago.  
  
The song was old. It told of the death of the greatest Elven King;   
  
"Gil-galad was an Elven-king.  
  
Of him the harpers sadly sing:  
  
The last whose realm was fair and free  
  
Between the mountain and the sea.   
  
His sword was long, his lance was keen,  
  
His shining helm afar was seen;  
  
The countless stars of heavens field  
  
Were mirrored in his silver shield.   
  
But long ago he rode away,  
  
And where he dwelleth none can say;  
  
For in the darkness fell his star  
  
In Mordor where the shadows are." (*** This song is taken directly from the book. ***)   
  
The song was beautiful in the common tongue, but in the elvish Qenya, it was hypnotic. It was strange. It was less than 300 years after Sauron was over throne and yet; men had not learned their lesson. History did repeat itself. It was cruel. The stupidity of men was so great yet they inherit Middle Earth and the Elves, wisest of all creations, faded into the past, and are forgotten, and hated for the very things that made us great. Instead of men increasing their knowledge by learning from elves, they now seek to destroy us. Already the earth cries out in sorrow and yet men do not hear it.  
  
It took Gilromen a few seconds to notice a ship sailing up the river. It was strange. Old like the ship Galadriel had taken. At the front of the ship a figure with pale hair stood. An elf. Gilromen groaned and prayed that the elf was just stupid and that he was not a prisoner.  
  
She jumped up and climbed into a tree. She fixed an arrow onto her bow and watched the strange ship come nearer. 


	4. I am Legolas Greenleaf

Ch. 3 I am Legolas Greenleaf------------------------------------------------ ------------------------ -------   
  
"See, Legolas, nothing to worry about." Gimli laughed.  
  
Legolas ignored the ignorant dwarf and continued to stare out into the distance, for he knew not what would come around the rivers bend. He signaled to the captain of the ship to watch out.  
  
Legolas was lost in elvish dreams when he caught a flash of movement and heard a noise. Within seconds he had his arrow fixed and aimed  
  
He was not the only one. An elf with long golden hair and strange eyes stared at him, her arrow pointed at his chest  
  
"Are you free elf or prisoner or war?" She asked in a melodious voice.  
  
"Free elf, though I know not of what you speak?" Legolas asked  
  
" Who are you?" She said, refusing to put away her bow, and he kept his aimed at her too, even if the others on the ship had relaxed.  
  
"Legolas Greenleaf of Eryn Lasgalan and of Ithilien!" This did not go well with the elf maiden.  
  
"Who are you in truth? I warn you! Do not play games with me!" She said, obviously annoyed.  
  
"AYE! Leave the elf alone!" Gimli said form behind.  
  
The girl spun around, shooting her arrow at the dwarf. Legolas let out a yelp and shot his arrow into her back. The maiden's body jerked with the force of the arrow then spun on the elf. She pulled the arrow from her back.  
  
"These arrows are well made, yet they shall not penetrated a coat of Mithril."  
  
Gimli was alive, thank Varda, to his helmet, which stopped the arrow. He was, however, on the floor, purple with rage  
  
"Why you-" Gimli went of into a series of curses in his native tongue. The Elf merely looked at him in disgust.  
  
"Calm yourself Gimli!" Legolas said above his furious yells. Legolas wondered what his friend had said. Gimli had refused to even tell him how to say "Hello". Dwarves were known for keeping their language a secret.  
  
"Do you honestly believe that?" She stared at Legolas as if for the first time. "You aren't Legolas. You can't be!" She narrowed her eyes. "Can you?"  
  
" I am Legolas, son of Thranduil, Prince of Eryn Lasgalan and Lord of Ithilien! Why would I lie?" To prove his point, He pulled out the brooch Galadriel had given the fellowship.  
  
The look in her eyes said it all. 


End file.
